I own not either Naruto nor One Piece though I wish I do... Oh well have fun reading the story while I mope in the corner!

My warning is still in effect.

Snake Sisters

Chapter 6: When on the road

(Flashback!)

Forested road, Land of Fire, four days after leaving Corro

From a distance most would say Hancock's eyes were just as black as Sasuke Uchiha's, yet on closer inspection they were in fact dark blue. It was a fact only Naruto seemed to have noticed where everyone else seemed to have not consciously acknowledge or cared as the case may be. In any event, this detail went unnoticed by the Uchiha Avenger as he and the head of the Boa sisters squared off in a half lidded staring contest of heated proportions. As to what lead to this event, only those two knew while everyone else was left in the dark.

As mysteriously as it started, it was broken off with both parties suddenly jerking their heads away with a respective huff from both parties followed shortly by a glare aimed at each other. Only Hancock's glare that consisted of slits for eyes.

XVX

Two hours later

Due to the brilliant plan that was Naruto's strategy, he only had one of his jumpsuits at his disposal whereas underclothing was abundant. As such his hole-y garments were his only means of decency, outside his underwear and shirt, were the only thing keeping him decent outside of his sandals as he sat himself on the ground and stared at his outstretched hand that was held tightly at the wrist by his spare hand.

"Come on," he lowly coaxed. In his palm, a familiar spiral pattern of chakra swirled into existence-

"Hey Naruto-" And there it went as quickly as it appeared with just as much evidence of its leave as its arrival.

"Gah!" Naruto cried. "I just had it too!" he wailed as he furiously tore both hands through his golden hair. In his frustrated sorrow he fell onto his back and rolled around uncontrollably as he continued to vent in aggravation with closed eyes. "Why must this technique be so hard to learn again! I can do it with a clone! But what kind of Hokage would I be if everyone else can use it with only one hand!?"

"Naruto?" Stopping suddenly on his back, the blond at last opened his eyes in hope of gazing upon the original reason to his latest failure of forming a Rasengan with but one hand as opposed to three, if his clone's hands were to be counted of course.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" he quizzically asked in genuine curiosity. The world as he knew it was cast in darkness, though what was with the small horizon of light near the ground every which way he turned his head where his cheek would be flush with the ground... and why was the horizon shaking slightly along the top of the band of light?

Wait...

"Uh-oh..."

XVX

"YOU PERVERT!"

WHAM!

Every bird, squirrel, and even acorns were jostled out of whatever tree a twelve-to-thirteen year old boy was jettisoned to and fled for their lives. At least the birds did in a more noticeable fashion at least between their panicked tweeting and from the fact that they climbed as high into the skies as fast as their wings could take them. "Hm." Kakashi just lazily turned to the next page of his book, his mind had long since chalked this occurrence up as a poorly thought out stunt, most likely accidental by nature, on Naruto's part.

Hancock storming away with a exasperated huff and reddened cheeks, in a newly acquired dress gained from the last town they stayed in no less, only served to solidify the current theory of Naruto doing something brainless.

"Na-ru-to..." Sakura growled as she raised a trembling fist. With a resigned sigh, the only jonin, and adult for that matter, closed his book. "Better save Naruto," he mumbled. Even he doubted Naruto's ability to survive between Sakura and undoubtedly whatever the Sisters would come up with upon learning whatever set Hancock off.

Sometimes it was downright troublesome to be a jonin-sensei... there was hardly time to read any more between the missions, (cough) training (cough), and occasionally saving Naruto from the wrath teenage girls who, in majority at least, have ninja (cough) training (cough).

Rumble.

With a collective bead of sweat threatening to drop from him due to the trepidation of what he suspected, he hesitantly turned toward the cloudless sky.

XVX

Five days later

Reaching Konoha just couldn't happen soon enough for Kakashi as he snapped his book shut once again much to his dislike. While he certainly had expected some degree of trouble as her served as an instructor, his experience and knowledge of such a fact drawn from his own discretions in the past, but he was certainly treading in new territory, for him at least, as he went to save Naruto... again.

In the past few days his team's ability to work exactly as they are called, a team, essentially went to hell when Naruto had taken upon himself the duty of apologizing to Hancock for whatever transgression he had originally incurred. That went as well as walking into the shower first thing in the morning, having just gotten up from bed, and learning firsthand the water heater was out of order.

Of the noteworthy beatings he had to rescue Naruto from in the short period of time that made this trip insufferable for his reading time, there was the time he accidentally walked into the girls while they were bathing at a creek, trying to assuage the current moods with gifts consisting of poison ivy made into armlets, and getting the idea of asking Sasuke for help...

That only made things worse for reasons beyond the jonin.

Sighing heavily, the man stretched out an arm without looking to catch an unconscious blond that rocketed through the air. "What did you do this time Naruto?" he asked rhetorically.

As if to answer, a toad smacked into the genin's face with a croak of agony spilling into the air from both the impact to the blonde's face and the subsequent fall to the ground. "Ok... I'm not even going to guess," the silver haired man grumbled as he rubbed his own face. By whatever power Naruto ran on besides ramen and at times chakra given by an outside source (the Nine-Tails included), the Boa Sisters had gotten it into their minds to follow Kakashi's team back to Konoha, however hesitant they were regarding the male-to-female ratio Team Seven already had with a slightly more tolerable disposition towards the blond himself even in the current war as it were. Between the obligations of being a gentlemen to poor women down on their luck and the fact that Naruto would most likely raise whatever hell there was to be raised, the jonin had to accept this. But with things going as they were, it may as well take a month to get back where it would take a couple of weeks at the most.

There was only one method he had at his disposal to in any way end this debacle: Get off the road and head into the nearest town, village, or city if that was the case. Whether or not this would succeed in some form could only be ascertained by performing the act, at the very least it might cool their passions down long enough for some semblance of order to be established once more when everyone was distracted by whatever marvels the town, village, city... frankly any significant gathering of people. Provided that said people didn't want to kill them of course, that was a given.

"Now where's that map?" he mumbled to himself as he dragged Naruto through the air with nary a thought given to him.

XVX

"Stupid little orange nutcase..." Hancock muttered lowly as she applied a brush to her hair as a means to calm her angered nerves brought on by the latest asinine plot Naruto cooked up. A mild curse went through her mind as the want for a mirror haunted her with each stroke of the brush.

"Sister," Marigold cooed, "why do we have to follow these people?"

"Granted Bonehead saved our lives, but certainly we're not obligated to go to this Konoha place..." Sandersonia added.

The brush stopped in mid-stroke. This was not the first time this issue was brought up. They weren't bound by chains any longer. They were free... They could go anywhere they desired...

The brush continued its repeated pace. "I'm just indulging that idiot's whim, nothing more..." she stated. A frown however marked her lips as a thought once again crept through her mind and gave her chills. "What happens next?" She stroked her hair all the more passionately as she tried to blot out the question.

Thoughts of the future never did play out well for her or her sisters...

XVX

Sasuke's hand almost reverently skimmed along the edge of a tree abused by the most peculiar of ailments to strike a living being: Petrifaction; the state in which a substance turned to stone.

Courtesy of a chakra fueled kick from Hancock. He only knew this by the chance discovery of a late night stroll to alleviate the recent nightmares involving his older brother. She was no kunoichi by any true standard, but it was obvious she was trained enough to utilize chakra for whatever purpose that training was brought on about, in all likelihood it was to use this bizarre yet deadly ability to bring down whatever foe that was unlucky enough to be hit. Of course, in being honest with himself, Sasuke actually thought it was something of a hoax when he stumbled across the teen as she practiced simple kicking on a tree they had long since left behind; he just waited till whatever method Hancock used was revealed to his sharingan eye.

But as time passed a new theory presented itself to him: Kekkai Genkai; bloodline limit. Unfortunately by the time this hypothesis came to mind, Hancock seemed paranoid enough to limit her excursions into the night as well as keeping an eye on him where she could. If she actually knew he was spying on her as of late, she had yet to reveal it.

As for her sisters, either they weren't as interested in becoming in any way effective of using this possible bloodline limit or they seemed to lack the traits needed to use it like Tsunade of the Senju clan for example not to mention some of her kin before they died. Even some members of the Uchiha clan weren't even able to use their own bloodline abilities for that matter, much to Sasuke's regret regarding it. So that left Hancock as his...subject of study for the time being. But with her vastly decreased frequency of training, if he could call it that, it seemed impossible to determine if it was a bloodline at work or not under not only the circumstances behind his method of "research" but from the lack of any form of education into a medical or forensic field to learn the truth of the matter...

Of course his minute hopes of learning the truth were resurrected when opportunity came knocking in the form of his teammate. He couldn't help but smirk both then and now as he turned his greatest hindrance into possibly his greatest hope to date. "Who knew Naruto being annoying would actually help me," he muttered quietly.